Cocktail Chronicles
An excellent blog by a man who has more cocktail books than I thought were published.

cocktailnerd
Gabriel has crafted a fine site and shares some of my pain with a state-run liquor system. He also manages to post about 4000 times more than me, and it’s always interesting!

Dave’s Drinks
Anyone who posts about exotic cocktails makes it on this blogroll!

Days That End In “Y”
An all-around drinking blog that posts quality news on the world of spirits, beer, wine, gadgets… the list goes on, as do the posts, which are too numerous to count. “Updated frequently” would be an understatement.

Dr. Bamboo
A fellow Pennsylvanian with a penchant for art and fine cocktails.

Favorite Posts

My copy of Imbibe by David Wondrich hasn’t been in my collection long, but it’s already showing the tell-tale signs of a favorite. The binding’s been cracked, nearly half the pages are earmarked, and dots of Angostura bitters and various spirits stain more than a handful of pages. My little tromp will only take me through one or two pages, so this is going to be far from a review, but I want to emphatically recommend you purchase this didactic Bible of classic drinking.

My recent foray through his section on the Martini and Manhattan has prompted the following question.

What is your favorite Manhattan recipe?

Here is mine, ripped direct from the pages of Imbibe.

Manhattan (New Standard)

2 dashes Angostura bitters

2 dashes gum syrup (you can leave this out)

1 dash absinthe (used Kubler)

2oz rye whiskey (used Rittenhouse bonded)

1oz sweet vermouth (used Carpano Antica)

1/4t maraschino liqueur (used Luxardo)

lemon peel, for garnish

Stir with cracked ice and strain into your fanciest cocktail glass, which you’ve no doubt chilled to perfection. Twist the lemon peel on top and discard.

A friend of mine prefers hers pretty similar to the “New Standard.” She likes 2-to-1 with Buffalo Trace Bourbon and Punt e Mes, 3 dashes Angostura, 1 of Peychaud’s, 1/4 oz Luxardo, and a dash of absinthe with a twist to finish.

I’m fond of Bourbon & Branch’s Black Manahattan, except the way they do it at Alembic in SF: 2 oz Buffalo Trace, 1 oz Averna, orange bitters and a flamed orange peel.

If I’m going for a real Manhattan, though, expect Rittenhouse Bonded and Punt e Mes with Angostura bitters and a flamed orange peel.

I don’t have a favorite yet, I like to switch them up depending on what’s around. My Mom and all her siblings, though, always drank Canadian Club with whatever sweet vermouth was around, Angostura bitters and a maraschino cherry. (One of the neon ones.) Even though I know better recipes and ingredients now, I still have a soft spot for one of my Mom’s Manhattans. It’s like a “comfort food” drink, and a couple definitely ease the pain of large family gatherings!

The cherry needs a little help. After exhausting a string of three different retailers for naturally flavored maraschino cherries without preservatives, I’m finally and sadly without a source. Right now, I’m planning to make them in the summer. In the meantime, I have Morello cherries with a little almond-Heering-Luxardo mixture (tasty) in their syrup and Griottines–good interim solutions, but I love real maraschinos. Can’t wait to have ‘em again.

I finally tried Unicum the other week and I was rather taken with the stuff. It reminded me very much Gamel Dansk, but it is sweeter, more complex, and way nicer. . . Unicum is super intense, and although it has a fair bit of sugar in it, I can see six drops or so really transforming a drink.

Manhattans were my first cocktail, discovered during my first New England winter after expatriating Southern California. For a long time I didn’t want to know how to make them so they stayed special but over time I started having to instruct ‘tenders how to make them and I grew tired of Makers Mark.

This page has been extremely useful. I’m now sipping on:

2oz Rittenhouse BIB
1oz Cinzano (it was the best I could find)
2 dashes Angostura (they were out of the orange)
1/4 tsp Kahana Macadamia Nut liqueur in place of the Luxardo.

The macadamia nut flavor mixes really well with the overall nuttiness of the drink.

*garnish with twist of orange (make sure spray goes in glass!) and I skip the cherry because good cherries have been hard for me to find.

The Jim Beam doesn’t seem to have many fans but I like how spicy it is, and with the orange it makes a very yummy concoction. Using something like Overholt makes the drink so smooth it loses its interesting character. Anyway, give it a shot. If you used Carpano Antica I wouldn’t complain.

Basically I found that the reason I used to hate Manhattans was because of crappy vermouth. I’m sorry, but cheapass vermouth just ruins the drink. I’m talking to you, Mr. Martini & Rossi. Once a friend taught me about Vya this became my favorite cocktail, hands down.